RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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It's not often we see serious innovation in air cooling; many merely spin on tried and tested formulae. That's not the case here, however, as the Cooler Master V8 Ace 3DHP is offering something new to PC builders: 3DHP technology.
I first glimpsed the 3DHP (3D Heat Pipe) tech in a backroom of Cooler Master's Taipei HQ in 2025. I was under a strict oath not to talk about anything I saw in that room, which was easy enough, as it was almost empty except for a pair of air coolers: one using a traditional U-shape heatpipe design and the other using 3DHP. The 3DHP design includes an additional heatpipe at the centre of the U-shape.
The benefit of this extra heatpipe is clear through a thermal imaging camera: there's no deadzone (cool patch) in the middle of the cooler. For the V8 Ace, in particular, 3DHP is used on two of its six heatpipes—the two big ones in the middle—with the other four in a more traditional layout. Altogether, there are a lot of heatpipes running through every part of this single-tower cooler.
That's the thing to remember when looking over the results from my testing with the V8 Ace 3DHP below. It's a single-tower cooler competing with the very best dual-tower coolers I've tested. That's a huge success, and just goes to show, there's still performance on the table even for an air cooler.
Buy if…
✅ You want the best single-tower around: The V8 Ace reaches new heights for a single-tower cooler, even closing in on very capable dual-tower coolers, such as the Noctua NH-D15 G2 and Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120.
✅ You really love cars: You won't find a cooler more befitting of a car themed build than this. I've definitely seen a few special edition cases inspired by F1 teams—make it happen.
Don't buy if…
❌ You're happy with a less polished cooler: The Thermalright Peerless Assassin is once again peerless in terms of value for money here. It's running circles around most other coolers at this level, from Cooler Master, Noctua, and Be Quiet!. It's just a bit rougher around the edges.
❌ You'd pay extra for peace and quiet: The competing Noctua NH-D15 G2 is a very quiet cooler that's proven itself tough to beat in most tests. It's huge, and expensive, but it's excellent.
Features
V8 Ace 3DHP
Dimensions
138.95 × 136.47 × 167.3 mm
Socket support (AMD version)
AM5/AM4
Socket support (Intel version)
LGA 1851/1700/1200/ 1151/1150/1155/1156
Heatpipes
2x 3DHP / 4x standard
Fans
2x 120 mm
Fan bearing
Loop Dynamic Bearing
Fan MTTF
>200,000 hours
Max. fan RPM
2500 (front) / 2050 (rear)
Weight (grams
1,068
Price
$120 / £110
There are two versions of the Cooler Master V8 Ace 3DHP: Intel and AMD. These cover more than just the brackets in the box. They also differ on the contact they make with your choice of chip.
I have the Intel option for review, which is designed "around higher sustained heat density." It also appears more concave at point of contact to better fit the—how do I say this politely—non-Euclidean shape of Intel's chips. They have been known to bend, namely the older 12/13/14th Gen chips.
The AMD option is designed around "contact consistency", i.e. it's flatter. This follows the same thinking employed by Noctua with the NH-D15 G2 , which also offers a model with a 'low base convexity' specially for AM5. So it's good to see Cooler Master doing something similar here to get the most out of its cooler.
There are two fans included with the V8 Ace. These run at slightly different speeds and come with different ratings for airflow and static pressure. The front fan is rated to 3.85mmH2O, at 2500 RPM and 37 dB(A), which helps push the air through the stacked heatsink. While the rear fan is rated to 2.00mmH2O at 2050 RPM and 34 dB(A). Both are what Cooler Master calls 'Loop Dynamic Bearing', which to my understanding is more or less its take on fluid dynamic bearing with an idea to continually flowing back the lubricant through the bearing to extend its lifespan. Over 200,000 MTTF (Mean Time To Failure) is pretty great.
Performance
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